Sticker shock . . .

Darling Narayanan is going through the Sticker Phase.

To a guy who is very possesive of his objects, this can be very annoying.

Recently she got a box of "Dora the Explorer" stickers as part of a goody bag at a birthday party in her daycare..

She, being trained by her mother consciously and subconsciously has learnt to hate my laptop instinctively. The minute I start working (or blogging), she comes running and shouts "Close that laptop, Appa !! Close it now !! Come play with me !". Having figured out that this trick didnt work, she decided to unleash her stickers on me.

She imitates her teacher : "You have been a good boy today, Appa. Let me give you a sticker !!" and tried to put the sticker smack in the middle of the monitor. In an instant of panic, I lost my steely resolve to ban vandalism on all objects under my possesion and compromised.. damn !! I regret it dearly now.

I begged her... "Please, not on the monitor. put it on the outside" and before I finished my work, my laptop is lit up like a christmas tree with Dora Stickers.



I go to a meeting at work (on one of those big oval tables with all the big bosses) and open my laptop and everyone is laughing their heads off !!



My attempts to remove the stickers have backfired. Darling Narayanan knows how many stickers are on the laptop !! Last week I tried removing a few and she spotted it. "Daddy, you have lost some of the stickers. Dont worry daddy. I will give you some more !!". Now I have more stickers than we started with. I have learnt my lesson and will not try to reduce the sticker count.

Moral of the story : Never let your guard down, especially when your daughter has a Ph.D. in adult psychology at the age of three.